Winter Driving Reminders

If you are heading for snow country this holiday season, be equipped, be carefuly, stay alert, hope that other drivers don't do anything stupid and have a great time. Bob and Tom Maliozzi (National Public Radio's Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers) have posted some sage advice on how to ready your car for winter, but if you have done so yet, it's a big late for this holiday week. AAA is also good source for winter driving tips -- both how to equip your vehicle and how to drive on snow and ice.

Vehicles with all-wheel or four-wheel drive and good tires are best suited to a lot of winter driving. In some locales, non-worn-down, all-weather tires will do, but elsewhere, special snow or ice tires, studded if your state permits, if you will be drive in harsh weather are best. Chains are an option. Blankets, flares and a shovel are the basic emergency equipment. Cell phones are useful but not always reliable in deep mountain valleys or remote areas, so don't consider a mobile phone to be your only emergency item.

"A Mountain Guide to Winter Driving" published recently in Colorado's Summit Daily News also discussed what to do when you have lost control on a slippery road. Kasmin Esmail, an instructor at the Audi Club of North America Ice Driving School in Georgetown told reporter Melanie Wong, "Smooth equals control." Slamming on the brakes causes the slip, slide or skid to get worse.

AAA gives the following advice:

>Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Appling the gas slowly to accelerate is the best method for retraining traction and avoiding skids. Don't try to get moving in a hurry. And take time to slow down for a stoplight. Remember: It takes longer to slow down on icy roads.
>Drive slowly. Everything takes longer on snow-covered roads. Accelerating, stopping, turning - nothing happens as quickly as on dry pavement. Give yourself time to maneuver by driving slowly.
>The normal dry pavement following distance of two to three seconds should be increased to eight to ten seconds. This increased margin of safety in front will provide the longer distance needed if you have to stop.
>Know your brakes. Whether you have antilock brakes or not, the best way to stop is threshold breaking. Keep the heel of your foot on the floor and use the ball of your foot to apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal.
>Don't stop if you can avoid it. There's a big difference in the amount of inertia it takes to start moving from a full stop versus how much it takes to get moving while still rolling. If you can slow down enough to keep rolling until the light changes, do it.
>Don't power up hills. Applying extra gas on snow-covered roads just starts your wheels spinning. Try to get a little inertia going before you reach the hill and let that inertia carry you to the top. As you reach the crest of the hill, reduce your speed and proceed down hill as slowly as possible.
>Don't stop going up a hill. There's nothing worse than trying to get moving up a hill on an icy road. Get some inertia going on a flat roadway before you take on the hill.
>Stay home. If you really don't have to go out, don't. Even if you can drive well in the snow, not everyone else can. Don't tempt fate: If you don't have somewhere you have to be, watch the snow from indoors.

For skiers, that last piece of advice is not an option, especially in a winter like this where snow conditions are excellent in most parts of the snowbelt.